CRE­AT­ING CALM

As the end of the year nears and our plates (and di­aries) feel fuller than ever, stress can start be­com­ing a way of life. One sim­ple tip for tak­ing back con­trol is to es­tab­lish a calm­ing morn­ing rou­tine. As the say­ing goes: win the morn­ing, win the day. Check­ing your phone first thing, mul­ti­task­ing and rush­ing out the door are all likely to tip you into a ‘fight or flight’ state, ac­ti­vated by the sym­pa­thetic strand of your ner­vous sys­tem. The ear­lier we en­gage the ‘fight or flight’ re­sponse, the more likely the ner­vous sys­tem is to es­tab­lish this as your de­fault set­ting, mean­ing you will feel more anx­ious and sen­si­tive to stres­sors through­out the day. Cre­at­ing a morn­ing rou­tine that pro­motes ‘rest and di­gest’ is key to set­ting your day up for calm.